Topix
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Topix, along with Nikkei 225, is an important stock market index for the Tokyo stock exchange in Japan, tracking all domestic companies of the exchange's First Section (1,700 companies as of October 31, 2006).
The index transitioned from a system where a company's weighting is based on the total number of shares outstanding (commonly called the float) to a weighting based on the number of shares available for trading (called the free float). This transition took place in three phases starting in October 2005 and being completed in June 2006. Although the change is a technicality, it had a significant effect on the weighting of many companies in the index because many companies in Japan have significant holds of shares of their business partners as a part of intricate business alliances, and such shares will no longer be included in calculating the weight of companies in the index.